Hedges and Fences step two - painting and flocking

Continuing on from the last post, this one covers how you turn the parts into a hedge or fence.

Once the fence parts are dry, you can stick them to the plastic base either using the Pritt glue or a two part epoxy resin. To be honest, I have found the Pritt to be fine for this job and leave the epoxy alone.

Once all the glue is dry, the next step is to create the rough ground as a base for the flock. To do this I mix up 30% water with 70% PVA glue (Anita's Tacky Glue to be exact) and paint all over the plasticard and bury in grit. The grit is an old pack of sand that I purchased when Gorkamorka first came out and I use lots of it to totally cover the base in one go


A quick tap on the base to shake any loose bits off and this is put aside to dry. Do not worry if you have missed bits BUT make sure you remove any lumps from the underneath and sides of the card



Once this is done, put aside (overnight if possible) and DO NOT touch until dry. Only when the glue is dry, pick up and shake any partly stuck bits off - I use an old brush to scrub other bits off at this stage. You can also dig any bits out that are caught up in the hairs of the hedges at this point (a right pain - tweezers help).

Then mix up a batch of 'brown gloop' - this mix is 50% glue, 30% brown paint, 20% water and a couple of drops of washing up liquid. The washing up liquid reduces the surface tension and allows this to soak all around the grit. Again paint this all over the base covering any white gaps and ALL the grit. Note this mix is for my brown paint and you may want to try a mix first to get a muddy colour. This picture shows you the difference



It is vital that this is left to dry very well as we will add extra glue in the next stages.

Though not part of this step-by-step have a look at a security fence I am working on using the same basic process:


I'll post the flock and finish part towards the end of the week as real life interferes over the next couple of days...